Nigerians are gradually inching towards the moment ofanagnorisis as the decision of the Sports Minister Sunday Dare to dismantle theLeague Management Company (LMC) with the ineptitude that characterized itsoperations and replacing it with the Interim Management Committee (IMC) has broughta new dawn to Nigeria’s football league.
Though the decision to replace the LMC with the IMC met toughresistance, the majority of the antagonists of the new order have now beenwon over by the professionalism, effectiveness and trust Hon GbengaElegbeleye-led committee has brought into the management of the Nigeria PremierFootball League (NPFL) and they are now hopeful about the restorationof the lost glory.
Dare, with a vision that is lucid, fought against theprincipality that had been holding down the progress of the league for years.His courage and doggedness to confront the hawks that were feeding on thefailure of the Nigerian league birthed the change and a new lease of lifeenjoyed by the premier division.
The Nigerian league has a history of scandals andmismanagement that is symptomized by corruption, lack of sponsorship, absenceof television coverage and accruing financial benefits, poor officiating,security concerns at match venues, indiscipline and selective adjudication andpoor remuneration of referees among others.There have been attempts in the past to stamp out thesedeficiencies from the nation’s league but the efforts were not wellencapsulated and pursued with vigour as much as we have seen in the one birthedby the vision of the Sunday Dare-led Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.
He prepared the ground for the rebirth of the league withthe conception and delivery of the 10-Year Football Master Plan that wasendorsed and approved by President Muhammadu Buhari. And to ensure that themaster plan does not go the way of previous policy documents before it, in gatheringdust on the shelf in the ministry’s office, Dare hits the ground running withthe implementation of the framework by sacking the ineffective LMC and replacing itwith the IMC.
Today, the NPFL clubs are in a jubilant mood when at thestart of the season they received alerts of N10 million each as takeoff grantsfrom the IMC. It is a development that was hitherto unrealistic in the league;they had been prosecuting matches season after season without financialcompensation from the organising body. In the past, winners were not paid fortheir efforts even at the time when there were some forms of sponsorship.
Former Super Eagles goalkeeper Ike Shorunmu was surprisedwith the way the IMC kickstarted its journey by facilitating a takeoff grantfor the clubs. “I see that we are ready because for the first time, wehave a situation where teams were given takeoff grants to start the season andthat is an indication that the IMC has started on a fine note and is ready;honestly I think they are ready and we can all hope for the best,” he said.
Another hallmark of the stride of the IMC is the promptpayment of referees’ indemnities and the increase in their emoluments. Badofficiating necessitated by the poor remuneration of the officiating officialshad dogged the league in the past but with the efforts of the IMC, clearchanges have been noticed as attested to by the away results recorded in thefirst stanza of the season.
“Referees will be paid before the day they will officiate.We have also increased their emoluments by 50%. Their transport allowance will also go up by 40%. This is to allow them to be more comfortable and not be putunder pressure. We want to give our referees the chance to perform well so thatthey can get CAF and FIFA recognition,” Elegbeleye had said at the start of the season and has incredibly matched his talks with action.
Hooliganism and violence had been allowed to fester at matchvenues across the country because of selective adjudication that bothers onfavouritism as well as punitive measures that were not fitting enough to serveas a deterrent but the IMC has not only been prompt in serving punishment toerring clubs but it has been just in the administration of justice.
Determined to stop hooliganism from messing up the new imageit is building for the league, the IMC acted swiftly on the assault of anAssistant Referee at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenegoa by ordering thededuction of three points and three goals from Bayelsa United FC and announcedthe immediate closure to fans of the Maiduguri Township Stadium for El-KanemiWarriors home fixtures over reported security breaches in the course of theirmatch against Bendel Insurance. The suspension of an official of Shooting Starswho was seen urinating on the pitch and the imposition of a fine on theIbadan-based club are some of the measures by the IMC to bring sanity to theleague.
The monies paid to the clubs and referees, are proceeds ofthe partnership between the IMC and GTI Group and the uniqueness of thetemplate adopted by the duo ensured that the deposits to the beneficiaries weredirectly made by the sponsors.
“GTI are economists, they’re bankers, they promised to helpus raise funds, using their image. As a very credible organization, we believein them, but we said before we go ahead, how you can help our 20 clubs for astart because they need support. We agreed that N10m is given to each club, andthis money was not given to IMC, it was credited directly to the accounts ofthe clubs, so we didn’t have access to the money. Secondly, on the issue of thereferees, we said pay the referee directly from your account,” Elegbeleye said .
